Quote:
Originally Posted by alnorth
Thats just how arbitration works. As much as I despised Hoch (I wanted his ass non-tendered last year) he was a dominating setup man last season, and that has value. At this point we probably have to keep him if we want to have a decent chance in 2014 with this rotation.
I don't know if he would have gotten 5 million in free agency, probably he would, but if we didn't want to pay what arbitration was going to force on us, then our only alternative was to cut him.
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5 million for Hochevar, who is still a liability, is unacceptable. For whatever reason, there is a love affair with him by GMDM or someone in the front office\coaching staff. His performance last season was NOT the norm - It was the exception. Did no one pay attention to the Career year then signing of Frenchy? It's a bad deal. 5 million for a reliever that has never performed until last year, then spend that type of money again with a limited payroll and a bunch of money already tied up in your bullpen? You non-tender him or trade him... That would be the good baseball move.
But he has a little value (certainly not 5 mil for a small market team as a reliever) and is one of the boys, so he's given the golden boot to drink from.
I can't agree with this at all... Hochevar will most assuredly not put up the same numbers as last year. If he does, then you start having a track record for paying him a few million dollars... but 5 mil as a lottery ticket\reclamation project is not good baseball business.